East Quincy business burglarized

An East Quincy business was burglarized in the predawn hours of Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013.

JoAnn Prince, co-owner of Great Northern Hair Co., said someone broke in to her store about 4:30 a.m. and stole $7,300 worth of jewelry.

Prince said the burglar (or burglars) entered the store by breaking a window behind the building. She said they took the jewelry and $47 from the cash register.

“I think this was done by someone who had been in the store before. They knew what we had,” Prince said.

She said the size of the footprints at the scene and the way the person entered the store led her to believe the burglary was carried out by a young adult.

“This was somebody who was fairly agile and knew what they were doing,” Prince said. “The window is 6 feet off the ground. And once they were inside, they moved a display rack in front of the door so no one could see inside.”

Prince and her daughter, co-owner Grace Ann Mason, moved the business to its current location next to Papa’s Donuts in June 2013.

Prince, who has owned the business for 33 years, said she hadn’t installed the security cameras that were in place when the store was located in downtown Quincy.

But her new store does have an alarm system. She said the sound of the alarm probably scared off the burglars before more merchandise was taken.

“I got a call when the alarm went off,” Prince said. “I called Grace Ann and she called the sheriff. A deputy was there by 5 a.m.”

Prince said the burglary was a reminder that business owners have to be on guard.

“We are in a rural area, but that doesn’t mean you leave your guard down,” Prince said. “Our new store is in a more isolated spot than when we were downtown.”

Despite the burglary, Prince said she realizes things could have been a lot worse for her business. The building that formerly housed Great Northern burned to the ground during a fire that destroyed several Quincy businesses Dec. 15, 2013.

“After the fire, this (burglary) is really nothing,” Prince said. “If we were still at our old location, we would have been out of business.”

As of Friday, Jan. 3, no suspects had been arrested in connection with the burglary.